Friday, August 28, 2009

Young Murdered Women..

...with black hair.

Of course the Indian Industry is crying foul. One thing we will never hear from said industry is the fact that these two young women were involved in the sex trade and that that line of work is extremely risky on a number of fronts, including increased exposure to murderous thugs involved in turf wars or looser creepy types looking for sex who just happen to know where to find it.

No. This is all the fault of the police, of course. Apparently they are supposed to stand guard over these women 24/7 while they ply their "trade". (What a stupid term to use, btw. Like it's equivalent to welding or carpentry or bricklaying, which are regulated and actually require some formal training and certification.)

Tell you what, Indian Industry. Collectively, you are a powerful lobby group. Why don't you use your influence to make a difference at the front end of this malaise, rather than standing up and wailing and pontificating after some young Aboriginal women have been murdered.

Many, many years ago, when I was about 19 or so and living in Regina, a friend and I once hitched a ride with a complete stranger. I can't remember where we were going, but everything went just fine. The stranger struck up a conversation with us and confessed to being Stephen Truscott's cousin. You old fogies will remember Stephen Truscott. He was convicted of raping and murdering a young girl when he himself was only 14. Many, many years later, he was cleared of the charges, forensic sciences and all that having advanced.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I made the mistake of telling my mother about the ride and what the stranger had said. She freaked, as any good mother would, and sternly warned me never to take a ride with a complete stranger and that, my dear Industry friends, is what's missing in this whole sorry tale. In far too many cases, no one is loudly and publicly telling young Aboriginal girls to be cautious. No one is loudly and publicly warning them about the multitude of risks they may expose themselves to by engaging in the sex trade or dabbling with drugs or being tight with the thugs that are gang members.

Now there's a cause you could take up if you had even a smidgen of real concern, but sorry, there's probably not as much money to be made as there would be in law, or teaching at a university Native Studies Department, or being a civil servant or being a member of a band council. Not as much for the old insatiable ego, either. But, who really cares if yet again more young Aboriginal girls end up dead. To the Industry, their lives aren't worth nearly as much as their deaths.

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